Automatic bobbin-winding machines typically have an automatic system for transporting cops and tubes to and from the winding stations of the machine, which can have a plurality of transport loops for circulating the cops and tubes. The transport loops extend partially over common transport paths. In this case, the cops and tubes can be placed on supporting pallets, sometimes referred to as peg trays. A transport system of this type is disclosed in German Patent DE 39 19 542 A1, for example.
Departing from a transport system of this type, German Patent Application P 41 31 608.8 describes a method for operating a bobbin-winding machine of this type during batch changing. At the end of a batch, when the bobbin-winding machine is no longer supplied with cops, the pallets with empty tubes remain in the transport system of the bobbin-winding machine, and are again conveyed from the tube return path to the cop supply path of the transport system.